NRI is participating in a new initiative which is designed to strengthen agricultural research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa. The programme – 'Strengthening Capacity for Agricultural Research and Development in Africa' (SCARDA) – is led by FARA with funding from DFID.
It will be implemented in the three regions by their sub-regional organizations:
- in Eastern and Central Africa by ASARECA;
- in West and Central Africa by CORAF/WECARD;
- in Southern Africa by SADC-FANR.
An inaugural planning meeting was held in Accra, Ghana, earlier this year (20-21 February 2007), and scoping studies are now being undertaken to identify the capacity-strengthening priorities that will be addressed by the SCARDA programme. The main focus of the programme is to strengthen the capacity of key organizations that can contribute to the development of stronger national agricultural research systems in the target countries.
NRI is supporting FARA and the three sub-regional organizations ASARECA, CORAF/WECARD and SADC-FANR during the current scoping studies, and will provide capacity-strengthening services during the three-year programme implementation period.
For further information on this programme and on NRI's capabilities in capacity strengthening for agricultural research and development, contact Dr Tim Chancellor (T.C.B.Chancellor@gre.ac.uk), who is co-ordinating NRI's inputs to SCARDA.